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Bloomberg Says a Soda Tax ‘Makes Sense’

As the battle over the state budget and the looming multibillion-dollar gap becomes more intense, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has stepped up his call for the Legislature to pass a penny-per-ounce tax on soda to stave off major service cuts to education and health care.

During his weekly radio address on Sunday — a day before a symposium on the topic — Mr. Bloomberg noted research suggesting that such a tax would reduce consumption of the sugary drinks, driving down obesity rates and the accompanying medical costs. Yet his main thrust was on finding a quick source of revenue for a city in serious need of one.

“In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by,” he said. “But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics.”

The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, and his predecessor, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, have advocated such a move, but the comments reinforce the mayor’s newly public support of the controversial tax.

Last year, after Gov. David A. Paterson encountered such strong opposition that he eventually dropped the proposal, Mr. Bloomberg expressed support for it but noted the “enormous outcry” and said the idea was “just not one that we’re going to be pursuing.”

This year, Mr. Bloomberg is throwing his weight behind the proposed tax at a time when the governor has been weakened and distracted by scandal. During testimony about the budget before the Legislature in January, Mr. Bloomberg — whose history of using his office to tackle public health issues includes an anti-soda advertisement campaign and banning smoking in bars — called the proposal “far-sighted.”

Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state health commissioner, said he had noticed a difference.

“What I think you’re seeing is really a momentum shift in favor of doing it,” he said.

Dr. Daines added that the new tax differed from the one proposed last year in that it would be levied directly on soda producers and the estimated $1 billion in annual revenue would be dedicated to the health care budget, rather than to the general fund. Mr. Bloomberg said the tax would also benefit education.

On Monday, Mr. Paterson was scheduled to headline a symposium about the beverage tax at the State Capitol, in Albany, with Dr. Daines and Dr. Farley attending.

A version of this article appears in print on March 8, 2010, on page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Bloomberg Says a Soda Tax ‘Makes Sense’. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe